Information systems are computer-based systems that obtain, process, store and/or output various forms of data depending on the purpose of the system. Users rely on information systems every day to provide accurate data for critical and non-critical purposes.
One example might involve a doctor or other health professional requesting a patient record from a hospital database (information system). Another example might be an accountant or other tax professional requesting a tax record for a client from a tax return database (information system). Yet another example might be a website user requesting a web page containing some transaction-specific information from the website (information system). It is important to note that such examples of information systems may comprise multiple servers distributed in remote locations.
In the example cases above, it may also be important for the user (doctor, accountant or website user) to review information pertaining to how the record he/she has requested (patient record, tax record or web page) was derived or from what source(s) it was obtained. This additional information is typically referred to as provenance information.